Target towing device



Dec. 9, 1947. o. J.. BRATZ TARGET TOWNG DEVICE xNvENToRf Patented Dec. 9, 1947 UNITED STATES? TARGET" TOWING DEVICE @tto J.B'ratz; Ad-ifiamMoln, assigner toAmerican; Chain: ai' Cable Company; Inc. Bridgeporm.

Conn.,l acorporation of New l'o'rkz Application May'l'; 1944',.Seri1`N'. 536260? (Cl.A t28-428i;

target. ThefreeY end or the calore-'is directly confV nectedtothe nosevr ofi'the target' carrier and? exchanger;` The targets are providedi with rings passeoll over the cable andi the rings areireleasedoneat' atimeasrequired?.

The towing of the target t'hroiigliA cross Winds at the increased speeds of toda'y causes thetar`v` get to flutter and whip and goin all' directions instead of following streamlined directly behi'ncl the aeroplane; The increase: irr speed isl necesi sary to keep the present type of aeroplane the air'. Therefore the targets have to be towed ata; much greater speed previously) causesoscill'atiorr and` Whipping due to the rapidi movement of thetarge't tlirough` the various' air-l currents This results inf the heavy' nose aty the-4v end of" the cable whipping' around even; tol areverseiposition. If an exchange off targetsi's-mad'e' under theseconditions, and oney cannoli'ftell When'- these conditionsiwil-l exist, the-ring comingfdown at'` such tremendousy speed with the target@ in'- 'ated will hit-the nose cone at a; sharp=angleand sever the cable, resulting' in the loss;L oi theA ex;- changer and targeti Such oscillation an'cl whip'- ping may also be caused or accentuated by vibrations set up in the cable by the oncoming target.

The. mai-n object of this invention is tol provide means for preventing the formation of sharp* bends in the cable at the point of or in the region adjacent to the carrier and exchanger, to provide a` track and guide for. the supporting, ring of' the oncoming target to permit it to continue its travel onto the carrier and exchanger',1 and to' provide means which willv lengthen the: life: of the towing cable and permit the' towing to be performed at a greatly increasedspeed. Y

Other objects of this invention. willf appear from the following description taken ini connecti'orr with the-drawings, in which:`

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing an aeroplane, a towing cable, a target carrier and ex- 2i changer,V a target and' the improvements of my? invention Fig; 2 is aview of a target? carrier anat exe changer' an'd'f the' improvei'iie'nt's` of my invention. or'iain"A enlarged scale;` and Fig.- 3' is a longitudinal section through severa1;

of' the" verteloraecones embodied in my inventiorr` Fig. 1 is a general diagrammatic' View' rilisclos'` ing' anl aeroplane atl 5 equipped with a winch` indi'catedi at? 6* on which. a towing cabler 1f is stored' andfrom; it is unreeledi. The towing ea-` bley maybe upwards of 43000 feet in length and atlits'l fr'eeend is equipped with aI target carrier and: exchanger generally ndicated at.` I0 from In thei knownk constructions the free,y end offy the cabieris directly connected to the' nose of. theL target carrier and: exchanger permitting; the' cal` ble at this p'ointto b'end sharply when the target carrier.` andi exchanger' isl Whippedi aboutV clue to ariyofi ai number of reasons;

'Iheftarget I* Il isi preferably of the-WindeSock type eqnipped witharin'g I2` ati its open end with which. are connectod four stretches of. cable' I3 connected by a single stretch of cable I if with airing t5; Aseries-oftargets equippedzwith'such ringsnaybe' strung over the cabler within the aeroplane andmaybe released one ata time-,1 as required.

targeta carrier exchanger Hl as disclosed. maylinclude'.` ay cylindrical body portion' or.' carrier' proper 20 winch-may` be provided. with. a. nose 2l: for guidingi the ring, I5j of atarget ontof the` body' 205 ofi the carrier.; For the purpose of' preventing, rotative movement ofi thei bodyy 28; of

the carrier from being transmitted? to the. towing` line,v the,` nose. 21. is preferably connectedv to the body 20- by a rotatable:- ball. bearing.'` connectionindicatedat-il 'llhoexchangexi mechanism' mounted onthe carrierl body' 205 may comprise: a' target ring retaining; leven4 24 provided withl a retaining hook 25 at. one end.` and; reducedi at its opposite end, asL showni at; 2'61; for' cooperation with the: forked end 1- of a tripping lever 21 which is spring drawn by' al spring 28A intothe position shown in- Fig. l. AL restoring spring, 2Q is provided` to restoreI the hook 25l into theI positioni shown in Fig. L after the ring; |5- of an= oncoming target has; pass'exiV over:`- the' leven 211.- 'llliis oor-rs'tructiorr` isold and'. well known: and: is not a part of the inventimrk disclosediamid claimed this application.

As disclosed inV Fig. i, the target carrierand exchanger and the target" may move into the dotted line position and they may also move beyond this position which in the absence of my improvements would cause a sharp bend in the cable at the point of its attachment to the nose of the carrier and exchanger so that an oncoming ring would hit the nose of the carrier and exchanger or the bend in the cable causing the cable to be sheared on the edge of the hole in the nose of the carrier and exchanger. This gure discloses my improvements and shows the limit of the bending of the cable when my improvements are employed.

My improvements consist generally of a vertebrae cone construction indicated at 30 surrounding the towing cable and connected to the nose 2l of the carrier and exchanger, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2 and constituting a flexible extension for the nose of the carrier and exchanger. This construction may be thirty inches in length or longer and provision is made so that the relative pivotal movement of adjacent cones or sleeves is limited, preferably so as to limit-the curvature of the cone construction as a whole to a twelve inch radius, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. As disclosed in this gure, the ring of the oncoming target shown in dotted position is guided onto the cone construction or ilexible extension 30 and onto the nose 2l of the carrier and exchanger Zl.

By reference to Fig. 3 it will be noted that each cone generally indicated at 35 includes an enlarged body portion 36 which is provided with a socket 37 to receive the enlarged end 38 of the other end of an adjacent cone. This enlarged end is formed on the end of an extension or neck 39 formed on one end of the body portion 36 of the cone. The enlarged end 38 may. be in the form of a ball and the forward end of the socket 3l may be correspondingly shaped, as indicated at 40. The socket is of greater1 length in the direction of the axis of the cone than the enlarged end 38 so that adjacent cones are permitted to move toward and away from each other, the most greatly separated condition being disclosed in Fig. 3, which is of less extent than the width of the ring l5.

The socket end of the body 36 is provided with a relatively wide flange 42, the interior diameter of which is slightly larger than the exterior diameter of the extension or neck 39, therelative inside diameter of the flange 42 and the outside diameter of the extension or neck 39 being so chosen that relative pivotal movement between adjacent cones will be limited, as disclosed in Fig. 3, which preferably is such that the entire cone construction cannot bend to a smaller radius of curvature than a twelve inch radius.

As is obvious from an inspection of Fig. 3, pivoting is limited ty engagement of adjacent cones at the longitudinally spaced points 45 and 45, thus providing a very strong construction, and generally the cone construction is in a collapsed condition so that the distance between the points l5 and i6 in the direction of the length of the cone construction is greater than that disclosed in Fig. 3.

As disclosed in Fig. 3, the extension or neck 39 is provided With an axial bore 50 which is of slightly larger diameter than that of the cable and which is provided with a llaring end to prevent any sharp bends in the cable as adjacent cones are pivoted, all as disclosed in Fig. 3.

The rearmost vertebrae cone shown at 35a is provided with a cone-shaped body 36a from which projects a screw threaded member 55 threaded into the nose 2l of the target carrier and exchanger. The end of the cable may be secured within the nose 2i by any suitable means as indicated at 56, as is well understood.

The cone 35h at the leading end of the cone construction or flexible nose 30 is preferably provided with a long tapered or cone-shaped nose 50, the end of which is of relatively small di-l ameter so as to guide the ring i5 of the oncoming target onto the cone construction.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I reserve the right to all changes and variations that fall Within the principles of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A protector for a cable comprising a plurality of concatenated sleeves each provided with a through-bore, the through-bore at one end being tapered to an intermediate point between the ends of the sleeve and having at that point a diameter slightly larger` than that of the cable to be protected, said end of said sleeve being provided with a ball provided with an elongated neck connecting it to the body of the sleeve, the bore in said body being enlarged to provide a socket for cooperation with the ball of an adjacent sleeve, the other end of said sleeve being of cylindrical form and having a bore of slightly larger diameter than that of said neck to limit relative angular movement of adjacent sleeves, said ball being slightly smaller in diameter than said socket and free to move longitudinally therein, said socket having a greater dimension axially of said sleeve than said ball and said cylindrical end having a shorter length than the length of said neck.

2. A rope housing comprising flexibly connected sleeves interconnected by a ball and socket con struction, one of said sleeves being provided with a ball-like end, the other of said sleeves being provided with a socketed end receiving and confining said ball-like end of said first mentioned sleeve, the socketed end having a cylindrical bore of a length to permit limited longitudinal movements of said sleeves relative to each other, the ball-like ends being free to move in said sockets, and a forwardly extending cylindrical flange on the outer end of said socketed end of slightly larger diameter than said rst mentioned sleeve for limiting the pivotal rnc-vement between said sleeves, the bore oi the'sleeve having a ball-like end being tapered from a diameter substantially greater than that of the rope at the end to a diameter slightly greater than that of the rope intermediate the ends of the sleeve.

OTTO J. BRATZ.

REFERENES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,414,024 Johnson Apr. 25, 1922 1,394,259 Johnson Oct. 18, 1921 1,695,263 Jacques Dec. 1l, 1926 1,276,117 Riebe Aug. 20, 1918 149,842 Deeds Apr. 21, 1374 428,023 Schoof Man 13, 1890 1,560,789 Johnson Nov. 1G, 1925 1,746,719 Sneed Feb. 11, 1930 

